Found: The “Mother of All Lizards and Snakes”
Back in 2003, scientists uncovered an odd looking, tiny lizard-like fossil in the Dolomites, a mountain range in Northern Italy, which is also a part of the Alps. Silvio Renesto and Renato Posenato wrote of the discovery in the Italian science journal Research In Paleontology and Stratigraphy. An international team of paleontologists then set out to […]
Earth’s ‘Cousin’ Found; Burnt Scroll Made Readable, ET Search Boosted
NASA Finds Earth’s Older and Bigger Cousin NASA announced that its Kepler mission has discovered a planet and star that closely resembles the Earth and our Sun. Some have even been calling the discovery of the exoplanet “Earth’s older and bigger cousin”. The planet and sun are part of the Kepler-452 system and are about […]
Ancient Toolmaking Roused Humanity’s Need for Language
A couple of million years ago our ancient human ancestors created the world’s first tools when they broke some rocks into sharp shards so that they could slice apart and butcher game such as gazelles or zebras. These early implements, called Oldowan tools, are the world’s oldest-known cutting devices. The term “Oldowan” is taken from […]
Happy Pi Day!
Today, March 14, is a special day for those who are into mathematics or science. It’s “Pi Day” or “Π Day”, the annual worldwide celebration of the ancient mathematical constant. It’s also the birthday of Albert Einstein who was born on March 14, 1879. Pi Day has been commemorated in one way or another since […]
Fossil Reveals New Species of Ancient Platypus
Australian scientists say they’ve found the fossil of a new species of giant platypus that walked the Earth between 5 and 15 million years ago. Up until now, the fossil record of the platypus indicated that only one species of the animal lived on Earth at any one time. The new study suggests this new […]
Ancient Chinese Treatment Could Be Effective in Treating Spinal Cord Injuries
Traditional Chinese herbal medicines have been used to treat a variety of ailments for centuries. Now a new study finds an ancient medicinal practice, called Ji-Sui-Kang (JSK), can improve locomotor function in rats with spinal cord injuries. The researchers reported that after being treated with JSK, the injured rats showed decreased tissue damage and the […]
Mars Meteorite Sparks New Questions About Red Planet
Scientists have determined a meteorite discovered in the Sahara Desert in 2011 is about 2.1 billion years old and could be the first meteorite to come from the surface of Mars. The meteorite, designated NWA (North West Africa) 7034 and nicknamed “Black Beauty,” weighs about 320 grams and is loaded with Martian water. It is […]
New Microbes May Hold Clues To Extraterrestrial Life
Scientists say they have found ancient microbial life in dark and very salty water some 20 meters below the surface of a frozen and isolated Antarctic lake. The finding could provide scientists with insight into how life could possibly exist in the most extreme environments on Earth as well as elsewhere throughout the cosmos. In […]
Ancient Dog Mystery Remains Unsolved
Exactly where man’s best friend came from remains a mystery. Thousands of years of cross-breeding have made it difficult for scientists to trace the ancient genetic roots of today’s dogs. Still, British researchers gave it a try. They recently compared genetic data from 1,375 modern-day dogs, from 35 different breeds, to global archeological records of […]